‘Experience of a lifetime’ for Buxton man who drove the coast of Africa in 2004 Toyota Yaris

Charles Wright, known as Chaz, has completed a mammoth road trip of 25,000 miles through 24 countries along the west coast of Africa – a world’s away from life in Bennetston Hall near Buxton where he grew up.

The 38-year-old said: “I’ve taken soldiers across swamp land, and been met with police officers with guns at border patrol. It has been a very different year, but an amazing one.”

Chaz went to Peak Forest Primary School and then Hope Valley College.

After finishing at the University of Derby in Buxton he went travelling in Thailand.

He said: “It was there I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to travel and see the world.”

After Thailand he moved to Germany and then later travelled from Peru in South America to New York on a 125cc motorbike.

He continued to work and live in Germany but as his 20-year-old car was on its last legs and was told by a mechanic that it would not pass an MOT he decided to have some fun.

He had already travelled to Portugal for business and that was when he decided to keep going.

Chaz said: “I thought why not drive to Africa so I drove to Marrakesh and then it escalated and I decided to drive to Cape Town at the bottom of the continent.”

Armed with just a tent and a backpack Chaz set off on a new adventure.

The little car was not equipped for life on the Africa roads and he had to stop off at several garages and make modifications along the way which included putting larger wheels on the car.

He said: “I asked for better tyres and next thing I know the car is being fitted with snow tyres - in the desert but they worked.”

He said his journey was filled with moments that will stay with him for a lifetime.

“I travelled through 125km of mud at one point.

“Parts of central Africa are the most dangerous in the world and there is a civil war going on and kids are walking around with machine guns.

“It was very frightening at times.”

As the journey was unplanned Chaz did not have all the necessary paperwork for his car which caused a problem crossing the border into different countries.

“Cars are a very valuable commodity in Africa so my 20-year-old Toyota that wouldn’t pass an MOT back home is worth a great deal more money in Africa so there is paper work to stop people taking cars down there and selling them.

“I hadn’t got that so the police officers told me it would be €250 to allow him entry.

“They were asking for money and for me to bribe them which I didn’t do.”

Knowing he was now stuck, Chaz set up his tent outside the police headquarters in Senegal.

“I went and explored the village and met the locals then came back to my tent at night.

“The police officer who work the border also live at the station and when their shift was over it was like they became a different person.

“Still in their uniform as I don’t think they have many other clothes but they invited me in to eat and watch football.

“Next morning when they were back on shift the friendliness was gone again.”

After several days of this the police let him pass the border.

He says while driving through Nigeria he was stopped more than 170 times in two weeks as the police saw a Western and assumed they could demand money from him.

“At one point I even had the chief of police in my car and still got pulled over.”

He says there were only two times he nearly ran out of fuel and that was in Angola and Nigeria where the queues were half a mile long to fill up at the petrol station.

Chaz said he could drive for hours and not see another car at some points on his journey.

He was very aware of the risk of Malaria and said seven out ten travellers he met had it.

To combat this he set up at UV lamp, similar to what butchers use, in his tent to catch the flies.

“I rarely stayed in hotels, apart from the fact there weren’t many but I knew my camping equipment was clean and I had no idea of knowing how clean the sheets were in a hotel and didn’t want to get ill.

“Also a hotel bedroom can be anywhere in the world and there is no sense of culture so if I saw villages and homes I would offer a sack of rice and ask if I can sleep the night.

“This turned into a big occasion and friends and family would come round and there was a chance to see real culture there.”

Chaz funded his trip with money from his battery business in Germany and says it is thanks to his uncle who taught him how to be a good businessman.

“And thank you to my dad who taught me how to drive a Bentley when I was only seven years old because would I have done this trip if it wasn’t for him?

“It has been an experience of a lifetime doing this.”

After reaching Cape Town Chaz has become a record breaker for travelling the African coast in a small car.

He has left the car in Cape Town and is heading home for a while but plans to catch to return and drive his car up the east coast for his next adventure.